Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Tallin, Estonia September 2011

A pretty special thing has happened recently. Every Sunday morning for the past 4 weeks I have gone on a long, long walk with a favorite sister-friend. It started when another sister-friend was in the hospital, and we walked to visit her. Unfortunately she was still in the hospital the next Sunday, so we walked again. Each time, we interrupted her listening to our church service on the radio. But that was ok. The 3 of us being together like that after a brisk walk was just as meaningful to all of us.

The third week, neither of us had much going on, so we decided to walk again. It was really cold and windy that day, so we caught a ride to the north part of town and "walked in." This past week, we decided that we were in the habit now, so why not walk again? We drove to some random, other-side-of-town part of town and started walking.

Our walks usually start with the general complaints from the week: jobs, family, etc. Then we move on to catching up on friends we have spoken with, and concerns we might know about. Sometimes we start to talk "about" someone, but we quickly stop each other. A lot of times we dream. We encourage, we smile, we laugh, and we sympathize. Mostly, we draw strength from each other. We sometimes walk in silence...simply enjoying our friendship...and the silence of the morning.

I know that not always will we be able to enjoy these Sundays together. Children will grow, jobs will change, parents will age, and hopefully...dreams will come true. But I will always look back on this month of Sundays with love; the joy of a friendship discovered in the middle of my life.

A sisterhood friendship: it doesn't get any better than that, especially for someone who only has a brother.